Fitness and Nutrition with @VeganFatKid

If veganism makes you think of salad and beet juice, take a scroll through the burrito-bulging IG page of Tim Moore (a.k.a. @VeganFatKid). Moore is changing the game with a heart of gold and a keen understanding of why plants are nature's best workout supplement. Veestro's Co-Founder Monica Klausner, sits down with the #VeggieReps king, to get his take on plant-based nutrition, and how he got those abs.

1. How did you get so buff on a plant-based diet?

“It’s all about the routines. I don’t know if you guys follow me on my Insta stories workouts, but I talk a lot about how one big workout doesn’t make you fit, and one big meal doesn’t make you fat. So it’s all about building a successful routine. Every morning I smash a bunch of raw veggies, and the rest of the day you see me eating a bunch of delicious vegan ‘comfort food,’ because I want to be comfortable, and building a solid routine. So we can have our treats, we can have our birthday cake because our routine is so great. What excites me about what we are doing today is this idea of making it easy. I don’t cook, so if I’m able to meal prep or just go to my fridge and get out a 100% plant-based, cooked meal that you guys did, its like a win-win for me.”

2. How do you get your protein?

“I’m all about the ABC’s of veganism. I just eat plants. There isn’t a trick to it. I don’t take supplements. I just eat vegetables, and what’s really ironic is that the biggest animals in the world all eat plants. So all I do is eat plants, and if someone is going to transition to a plant- based, vegan diet, especially the lads, they’re always like, ‘Bro, where are you going to get your protein from?’ We’re conditioned to think that way, aren’t we? We put a plate of food down, and then we’re like, ‘Okay, what’s my protein? And I’ll fill in around it..’ I don’t think that way. I just eat plants and get all my nutrients from that. So, it’s just about changing your mindset. So I would think in overall calories for the day, rather than protein versus carbs, versus this or that.”

3. You talk about plants and I want to open it up a little bit more because I think a lot of people are confused, and thinking plants are just green, but give me a plethora of what you eat that perhaps is not just a green plant.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure my mum still thinks I eat salads every day, envisioning me eating salads, and I do enjoy eating salads here and there. But, because I’m an emotional eater, I’m connected to certain foods that I loved growing up, certain foods that make me feel like I’m 15 again-the little chubby 15-year-old that I was. So I’m really into the burritos of the world, tacos, pizzas, and all this kind of good stuff that isn’t necessarily raw kale salad, although raw kale salads are awesome.

“Your mission in life-especially if you’re trying to lose weight, or build a cool physique-isn’t to build the best physique ever, it’s to have the best life ever, and your physique is just a part of that. So there’s this idea, if we were to stay straight fitness, is abs are made in the kitchen, they say. Well the truth is, abs are really made in quarantine. If I stay in the kitchen 100% of the time and create an environment of control, I can get awesome abs. So if all I eat every day are salads and all these things that control my macros, and I do all this stuff, I’m gonna get that awesome bathroom ab selfie.”

“So while abs are made in quarantine, your life is made out there in the world with everybody else. So, I’m not trying to live a life of restriction. I’m trying to live a life of addition, and a plant-based diet, even though it sounds like this catch all, it really is. I can enjoy all foods I’ve had before, but plant-based versions, and the plant-based versions are lower in calories, cholesterol-free, and without the animal saturated fats that hang on the hips (muffin top), especially eating a diet that is filled with hormones and additives-all these things that your body can’t recognize as food. So what happens is your body says, ‘I don’t know what that is, bro. I’m just going to deal with it later,’ and holds onto it.”

“Once I switched to a plant-based diet, my body became this system that can burn through everything. Now a doughnut or a pizza doesn’t worry my system.”

4. So how did you get here? Five or six years ago you went fully plant-based, and how did you come up with that? What did you think?

“That was cool too. So I am in America, I do not have health care, I need to get a scan on my neck, so they send me down to the county hospital, and I sat there for about 12 hours in the waiting room, because that’s how long the wait is, and I noticed how many people were smashing McDonald’s, smashing the vending machines, and how many of those other people waiting had eaten themselves into the waiting room with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and all these sorts of things. I had such a miserable time waiting in that environment that I was determined not to be back there. So I spent a minute Googling stuff, more like 12 hours, and I discovered most of the hormones and additives and these kinds of things were put into the meat and especially the American meat supply, and the standard American diet was eventually going to bring me back right there. So the next day I made up my mind and said, ‘I won’t be eating any of that,’ and had this idea that we take charge of our own health and don’t leave it up to the system, which is a standard American diet and then buying medicine for the ailments. We take control of our own health and a plant-based diet was a key in all of that for me.”

5. What keeps you focused when you’re working out?

“I set small goals. A couple of years ago I did 365 days of gym. So I never missed a day in the gym for 365 days, and that’s a longer goal. I break it up now, into six week chunks. I try and work on strength training for six weeks. So I’ll do different sets and different reps of varying weights to get a different result and then six weeks from now, which will be the middle of next month, I’ll switch back to the more high intensity cardio workout. It’s always tricky trying to help people out, especially online, because not one size fits all. But the one thing we all have in common is there should be no quit in us. This should be an everyday thing where you keep moving, where you just need to be active.”

“If you do pilates once a week, great! The other six days you should be doing other things. Join a soccer team, do yoga, whatever you enjoy doing. Errands are great, depending on where you live. I have to go to the bank sometimes, get a cup of coffee, go to the post office. Those are 2 miles away and I think great, I’ll walk. Walking is awesome. It’s relatively inexpensive to walk. I don’t think there’s a tax on walking yet. So it’s about building a routine, a solid routine. Getting back to what I was initially talking about. Build a solid foundation around things that you do every day. One big meal doesn’t make you fat. One big workout doesn’t make you fit. It’s what you do every day. We aren’t inherently anything. We are what we practice. So the gym works for me as repetition. So practice every day. Life comes at us every day, so building the capacity to take it on every day is the key. Then that way you can smash a birthday cake, you can go and smash a doughnut and not stress about it.”

Still itching for more @VeganFatKid? Watch the full interview to find out what Tim thinks about soy, sleep, counting macros, and staying fit while eating out.